Chopra’s frustration with the CFPB and the attacks on US telecommunications: a counter-attack against the c.m. government

In a conversation with reporters on Monday, Chopra pointed to the recent attacks on US telecommunications systems, which the government has attributed to China, to emphasize the value of personal data to the nation’s foreign rivals. “But often, our adversaries don’t need to hack anything,” he says. Data brokers are making the data they have of our lives available to anyone who is willing to pay a price.

The regulation is not about government operations. During a Monday press call, a CFPB spokesperson said the agency is requesting comment on how to ensure government agencies continue to have “appropriate access” to this information. The CFPB will be accepting comments on the proposed rule until March 3rd, 2025 — but it’s possible that Trump and his allies, who are reportedly looking at ways to rein in the agency’s powers, will defang the CFPB before then.

The first US privacy law was passed in 1970 and requires credit reporting agencies to follow certain privacy and accuracy guidelines in dealing with people’s financial information. The CFPB’s proposal aims to treat data brokers like credit reporting agencies when they deal in this sensitive data. It would require data brokers to obtain “separate, explicit authorization” before acquiring or sharing people’s credit information, rather than burying these permissions in expansive legal documents that surveys show are often unread or impossible for the average person to parse.

Federal prosecutors alleged that four members of the Chinese military were behind the Office of Personnel Management hack, as foreign countries go to great lengths to obtain that data. The press call stated that their adversaries don’t need to hack anything to find the most sensitive data. Data broker outfits collect and sell detailed information about our financial lives to anyone that wants to pay a price.

The director of the bureau mentions the National Public Data breach on a call, which caused more than 200 million Social Security numbers to be offered for sale on the dark web. “These aren’t just isolated incidents: they represent a systemic vulnerability in how our personal data is bought and sold,” Chopra said.

The United States government’s leading consumer protection watchdog announced Tuesday the first steps in a plan to crack down on predatory data broker practices that the agency says help fuel scams, violence, and threats to US national security.